Catastrophe
by Kiwi ingenuity
Summary: After a battle with Cronus Archie is missing, pressumed dead. Atlanta is not taking this well, but what happens when a new and furry friend appears? AA, very minor JT. ONE-SHOT.


**I know I probably should be working on some of my other non-CotT stories, but I **_**really **_**wanted to do this one-shot, and it's about time someone uploaded a half decent story up here. Anyway, on with the story!**

**Theme song thingy is: Plans, by Birds of Tokyo.**

MY INFAMOUS LINE BREAKER OF AWESOMENESS!

The sun shone brightly in the sky, casting its light down on the large field, and the eight people standing in it. Seven teenagers and one God of Time.

"You'll never win Cronus," The young purple haired one cried out cockily, flinging his whip towards the God, who simply cut through it like a knife through hot butter. The boy groaned slightly in frustration.

"You really think you; a bunch of kids can beat me, a _God_?" The man replied, but was soon interrupted by a sharp burning in his upper arm. Looking over, he saw one red haired teen, with her arm raised, a small, golden device attached to it.

"You keep tellin' yourself that," She said, a small smirk on her face. The man smiled, and the faces of the teenagers fell, they knew by now that that smile meant bad things were around the corner.

"Well, adios, my friends, it's time for me to depart," As he said this, a black circle appeared behind him, tipped with orange edges. He walked straight through it, vanishing in to the pits of god knows where. The odd thing was, the portal was still there, normally by this time it would have vanished. The purple haired boy decided to use this to his advantage, and raced through it. "Archie, wait!" The young red head cried, but by the time the words had escaped her lips, the portal was gone. But it hadn't vanished fast enough to hide the blood curdling scream that came from the other side of the portal…

LINE BREAKER!

The now six teenagers entered a small cave, carrying a small blue device that looked a lot like a cell phone, which they had been using to track their missing friend.

"Come on Archie, where are you," The youngest member of the group whispered, growing nervous of what they might mind. They all knew the scream they had heard from the portal was his.

"Hey guys! Come over here, I found something!" The one known as Herry exclaimed, standing next to a pile of what looked to be clothes.

"Herry what are you…? Wait, those look like, Archie's…" Atlanta replied, gasping slightly.

"Wow, even his boxers are there. I knew the guy was weird but he didn't strike me as a streaker!" Neil commented, earning an 'if-looks-could-kill' glare from Atlanta.

"I've got to agree with Neil, this is really odd- wait, what's this?" Jay said, examining the pile. He picked up a small amount of what looked to be dirt, only when he picked it up it turned the tips off his fingers a smoky black.

"It looks like, ash… Theresa, can you have a look at this, can you sense anything?" He added. The ginger haired girl approached the clothes, picking up the sleeve of the hoodie.

VISION

Immediately the world around her faded, and she found herself looking at the figure she recognized as Archie, and the villainous Greek God of time, who wore a smug grin on his face. Suddenly he raised his arms, a bright light shining from a small golden band on his arm, heading straight for Archie. It hit him with such force he struggled to stand up on his own two feet, and before long he was crying out in agony. The scream went straight into Theresa's ears, making her want to scream. Finally, the light faded, but to Theresa's astonishment, Archie was gone. All that was left was his clothes.

END VISION

Theresa gasped as her the horrifying scenes finally faded away, replaced by the worried face of Jay looking back at her. She could feel the tears forming in her eyes but she refused to let them escape.

"Did you see what happened to Archie?" Atlanta asked anxiously. Theresa slowly got up, heading towards Atlanta. She placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Atlanta, I, I think Archie's gone, I think Cronus has found a way to disintegrate people." She explained, her voice cracking. Atlanta's mouth dropped, along with everyone else's. But just when Theresa thought the younger female was about to burst into tears, her eyebrows furrowed.

"No, this just isn't right, he isn't dead! He, he can't be! You're wrong!" She cried, violently brushing Theresa's hand off her shoulder.

"Atlanta please, I swear I'm telling the truth! I would never lie to you about something like this!" Theresa cried, pleading with her young friend. Atlanta stared up at her, her eyes filled with tears. Before Theresa could even utter a single word she found herself being squeezed by a very emotional Atlanta, who had tears streaming down her face like rivers.

"I-I just can't b-believe he's g-gone." She said through her sobs. Theresa returned the embrace, realising how hurt her friend must be.

LINE BREAKER!

The six teenagers sat in the large room that was Hera's office, awaiting their thoughts about the 'disappearance' of Archie. Hera stepped forward, her face full of sadness.

"I am afraid, that judging by what you have told us, and Theresa's vision, we can only conclude, that Archie, is indeed, dead. The chances of him surviving whatever Cronus did are almost zero. Persephone can't sense him either" Atlanta's mouth dropped.

"No! There has to be some way! He has to have survived! He just has to," She cried, her eyes filled with tears.

"Yeah, if he was disintegrated then why were his clothes still there?" Odie yelled, his anger and sadness not enough to cloud his brain.

"If it was only Archie's skin that was hit then that would cause only him to disintegrate." Hermes explained, and Odie sat down, frustrated.

"B-but what about the prophecy?" Jay asked, leaning forward on the seat.

"That, I do not know, but for now, return to the Brownstone and get some rest, we will notify his parents at the end of the week." Hera explained, dismissing the students. The now six teenagers walked slowly to the door, their hearts heavy with sadness. They all had their heads down, and most of them had tears streaming down their cheeks, some more than others.

2 DAYS LATER!

The moonlight shone down on the rain soaked path, and one small figure could be seen sitting on the steps nearby, her clothes soaked, not that she cared. If it hadn't have been for the rain you would have been able to clearly see the tears running down her face.

"Why did you have to go and die? Why…" She said, crying into the sky. "You always have to be such a show off," She exclaimed, her voice slightly happier than it had been lately. "But now it's gone and got you killed…" Suddenly, she felt something soft, yet extremely wet, brush against her leg, and a soft 'meow' flowed into her ears. Looking down, she saw a small cat; it looked about a year or two old. Its fur may have been completely soaked, but you could still see the basic features. It had a navy blue coat, with, what looked to be almost, _purple_ tipped ears and tail. But Atlanta just assumed the light was playing tricks on her. It also had piercing blue eyes that she found oddly familiar.

"Awe, poor little guy," She said softly, stroking the cat, who eagerly rubbed up against her hand. This was when she noticed how skinny the cat was, and the slight limp in his left leg. "You must be hungry, stay here; I'll go get some food for ya." She got up and entered through the door behind her. She casually walked over to the kitchen, and opened the fridge door. Sadly, the eating machine otherwise known as 'Herry' had already passed through there. All that was left were a tin of sardines and some cheese. _Well, I'm pretty sure cats don't eat cheese so I guess I'll go with the sardines. _She grabbed the tin and walked back out the front door, half expecting to find the cat gone, but to her surprise it was sitting right by the front door, staring up at her. She closed the door behind her and sat on the step. She pulled out a fish, and held it up to the cat's face. He immediately wolfed it down, and came right up to the tin, wanting more.

"Calm down little guy!" She laughed, handing it another fish, which it excitedly swallowed.

In a matter of minutes the entire tin was empty, though there hadn't been very much in there to start with, it was still rather quick. By now the cat had made itself comfortable on Atlanta's lap, purring away softly. She was finding the silence rather comforting. But before she could even utter a word the silence was broken by the door behind her opening.

"Atlanta, please…" Theresa exclaimed, but stopped herself once she saw the small cat on her lap. "Oh, this is new. I never knew you liked cats." Atlanta smiled.

"Well, he just came right up to me, he's really friendly. Hey! I've got an idea; do you think maybe we could ask Jay if we could keep the little guy?"

"He is pretty cute, but I don't think Jay would agree. You know him, he'll probably say something like 'it might be one of Cronus' minions! Or, 'we don't have time for pets'." Theresa replied, putting on her best Jay impression.

"Awe, please Theresa? We won't know until we ask." Atlanta pleaded.

"Uh, fine… But you owe me." Atlanta squealed with delight, well, as much as Atlanta could without seeming like one of those girls she so despised.

The two girls approached the door to their leader's room, one of them carrying the cat behind her back. The slightly taller one, who also had her hands free, knocked her hand against the door lightly.

_Who is it? _Asked the voice from the other side of the door.

"It's Theresa and Atlanta."

_Come in._

Theresa slowly opened the door and walked in closely followed by Atlanta. Theresa spoke first. "Jay, we were wondering, you see, Atlanta found this cat and…"

"Oh no, we are not having any pets," He explained sternly, causing Atlanta's face to fall. Theresa, seeing this, walked right up to their leader.

"Please Jay, I haven't see Atlanta this happy since Archie's… passing." She whispered. Jay looked over at the spunky red head, who had moved the cat so she was now holding it in front of her. The cat who had been extremely calm before was now wriggling about, trying to escape the girl's grasp. It finally succeeded. But instead of running out the door like they expected it to, it walked over so it was directly in front of Jay's feet, and looked straight up at him. It gave him what looked like a cat version of the 'puppy dog pout'. He sighed.

"Fine, you can keep him. But you have to ask Athena first." He replied, gaining an eager nod from Atlanta.

"Thank you," Theresa responded, walking out the door, after Atlanta.

Surprisingly, Athena had actually allowed Atlanta to keep the cat, as long as she took care of it. The strange thing was, Athena had originally sounded like she objected to the idea, but once she got a look at the cat she immediately changed her mind. Atlanta found this odd, but decided to just forget about it; at least she got to keep the cat. She walked into the lounge area, to find the rest of the team, minus Jay and Herry sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Guess what guys!" She exclaimed, managing to grab their attention. "We've got a new member of the family!" She held out the young cat in front of her, allowing everyone to see it.

"A cat?" Odie replied quizzically.

"Yep,"

"Oh cool! You got Athena to let us keep him!" Theresa exclaimed happily, just as Herry walked in from the kitchen.

"Hey, has anyone seen my sardines… Wait, what's with the kitty?"

"He's our new pet! I found him on the street, he's really friendly."

"You're sure he doesn't have an owner?" Odie asked.

"Positive, he has no collar, and he's as thin as a twig, and he's got a limp in his back leg, I don't think an owner would leave a cat in this condition."

"Ok, but what'cha gonna call the thing?" He asked.

"I dunno, I was gonna ask you guys for ideas." Atlanta explained, just as Jay walked in. "So any suggestions?" As she said this she plonked herself down on one of the remaining seats, the cat deciding to make itself comfortable on her lap. Her team mates then began calling out their suggestions.

"Neil junior!" Neil said, looking into his mirror the whole time.

"Cat." Herry said.

"Fuzzy McFluffenstein!" Odie cried enthusiastically.

"Griffon." Jay suggested, his voice lacking emotion. He wasn't much of a cat person.

"Charlie." Theresa exclaimed.

"Nah… Don't really like any of those," She sighed, shaking her head. "Wait! I've got it! You're name will be… Hunter!"

LINE BREAKER!

The group of teenagers were sitting in front of the TV, watching some sort of movie, Atlanta never quite caught what it was called. All she could focus on was Jay and Theresa snuggled up on the other couch. Every time she looked at them she felt emptiness deep inside her heart. She knew all too well what it was caused by. Archie, or should I say, the lack of. _Why did he have to die! I never even got to tell him how I really felt about him…_ She felt her eyes start to well up with tears, so she desperately tried to hide them. She decided to focus on something else. How uncomfortable it was having a reasonably heavy cat asleep on your thighs.

"Hey, anyone want a turn with Hunter? I think he might be cutting off circulation to my legs…" She joked.

"Ok, I'll take the little guy." Theresa replied, and Atlanta carefully placed her hands underneath him, lifting him off effortlessly. She placed him on Theresa's lap, and went back to her seat. But within a mater of seconds, Hunter had already leapt off Theresa, and found his way back onto Atlanta's lap.

"Wow, that cat's more stubborn than Archie was…" Jay started, but was immediately silenced by Theresa's foot stomping on his own. This remark cut Atlanta deep, and she realised she could stay in this room any longer, at least not without loosing her dignity.

"I think I'm gonna go to bed, I'm, kinda tired." She explained, her voice cracking.

She came to the door of her room, and was about to grab onto the knob and enter, when she felt something soft rub against her leg. Looking down she saw Hunter staring up at her, with what almost appeared to be, sadness, in his eyes. He meowed, and then ran off towards the end of the hallway, signally her to follow.

"What do you want…?" She stopped when she say what the young cat was standing next to. Archie's door. He was rubbing in frantically, obviously wanting to go in there. "No, you can't go in there," Hunter walked over to her and began to rub against her legs, not giving up just yet. She sighed. "Fine." She opened the door, and he quickly rushed in. Slightly curious, Atlanta peeked through the door, wandering what the cat had been so curious about. Almost instantly after she looked in she found herself biting her lip, holding back the tears. _I can't stand it, this place contains too many memories…_ Suddenly she noticed a small wiggly tail beneath Archie's bed. Hunter's, to be exact. "Hey! Get out of there!" She raced over and shoved her hands under the bed. She grabbed a hold of the cat's waist and pulled him backwards. He yelped in surprise, but didn't put up to much of a struggle. When she finally pulled him out, she noticed he had dragged with him a large, hardcover notebook. _What the?_ Puzzled, she picked it up, and opened it. Stick to the inside cover, were six small notes, addressed to each one of the heroes, one a lot larger than the others, was addressed to her. She opened it.

_Dear Atlanta._

_If you're reading this than either, I am dead, or you're nosing in my room again (if you are, get out NOW!). But if I am, then go ahead and read, but don't show this to anyone else, I at least want to keep my dignity…_

_Signed,_

_~Archie._

Following the letters directions, she read on. As every page turned, her mouth dropped even further down. Throughout the book were poems, almost all of them about her, except for two, one about Neil being narcissistic and another about Theresa and some girl called 'Mary Sue'. **(AN/ Don't deny it. You all know it's true.) **_Wow, this is really sweet… Kinda creepy but sweet!_ She looked down at Hunter, who was sitting next to the book, staring up at her.

"Thanks little guy. Though you probably don't even know what you've done,"

THE FOLLOWING DAY, AT THE SCHOOL!

Atlanta and Artemis walked through the school, all the while discussing different hunting techniques, while Atlanta carried around her gym bag. Though Atlanta was only half there. Her mind was still focusing on the events of the past few days. Looking back at Artemis she noticed the god had a slightly confused look on her face, as if she had asked Atlanta a question. Her face then softened.

"You miss him don't you."

"Huh? What?" The red head asked, puzzled.

"Archie, you miss him." She replied. Atlanta nodded softly.

"He was my best friend, maybe even more than that, how could I not?" The god placed a hand on her pupil's shoulder.

"Don't worry, it may hurt now, but it will get better, you just need to remember the good times you had with him," Atlanta smiled sadly, but suddenly jumped when she felt her bag squirm, and almost, wriggle. She immediately dropped it, and Artemis held her bow to it, preparing to kill whatever was hiding in it. But, instead of some vicious monster coming out of the bag, a soft furry head appeared.

"Hunter! What are you doing here!" Atlanta cried, attempting to sound annoyed.

"Atlanta, you know you're not supposed to bring any mortal animals into the Secret Wing." Artemis scolded.

"I swear I didn't bring him, he must have snuck into my bag when I wasn't looking!" She pleaded, attempting to grab the cat. Hunter quickly ran over to Artemis, staring up at her, meowing frantically.

"Noisy little fella aren't you." She said, picking him up. She then froze, this was no ordinary cat.

"Forget what I said before Atlanta, I think we've found that friend of yours!"

NEVER FEAR! IT IS ALMOST DONE!

Atlanta, Artemis, Hermes, Hera and Ares (who had nothing better to do), stood in Hera's studio, for the second time that week.

"Artemis what is going on, and why is this, 'feline' here?"

"Good news! We've found Archie!" The huntress cried, leaving the entire room, gasping.

"You mean he's not dead!" Atlanta cried, feeling overwhelmed by happiness.

"Yes! He is this cat!" The god explained, causing the cat to mew loudly in agreement.

"My goodness, can this be true? How can you tell Artemis?" Hera exclaimed, surprised.

"Any god can tell the work of another god. And look at his eyes! This is Archie, I assure you." Artemis replied.

"Hermes, take the cat to Chiron immediately, and let the others know too." Hera ordered, and the messenger raced off to the centaur's office, quickly followed by Atlanta.

Atlanta was patiently waiting outside the door of Chiron's office, waiting for them to finally turn Archie back to normal. For some reason they hadn't allowed her to stay in the room during it, so she had to wait outside. Suddenly, from the other side of the door she could now start to hear yowling, it was getting louder and louder. But then something weird happened. The tone of the voice changed, it got lower, more, human like. Then the screaming stopped. She placed her ear to the door, trying to hear what was going on. But before she could react the door swung backwards, causing her to fall forwards. But instead, something, or should I say 'someone' stopped her in her tracks, by gripping onto her upper arms, out of instinct. Looking up she instantly recognized the face she had been missing for so long. The person standing before her was none other, than Archie.

She instantly wrapped her arms around him.

"You're alive! Oh thank god, I thought you were dead!" She cried, tears running down her cheeks as she pressed her head against his warm hoodie. **(AN/ Yes, they brought back his clothes) **She felt his arms wrap around her, bringing her further into the embrace.

"Don't _ever _do that again!" She ordered, looking up at him sternly, eyes full of tears.

"I'll try not to," He joked, wiping the tears from the red head's eyes, causing small smile to appear on her face. Atlanta soon found herself staring deep into Archie's metallic blue eyes. She found herself leaning in, closer and closer with every second. Eventually her eyes shut, blocking out the rest of the world. Closer and closer. Now she could feel his breath against her face. They were mere millimeters away now. But because they were so absorbed in the moment, neither of them heard the on coming footsteps. It was only when they heard the door swing open did they realise what was going on. But by then it was too late.

"Archie! You're alive!" One of the intruders cried as he ran towards the boy, wrapping him in a crushing embrace.

"Hey Herry, it's good to see you too, but can you put me down now!"

LONG STORY IS LONG!

**The end! I probably could have made it slightly longer, but I think it's good to just end it there. SO yeah, the whole time Archie was a kitty! What do know? Now, REVIEW! And you get a free cookie! **

**PS. I will be uploading some pics of kitteh Archie up to my dA account. If you wanna see them, just go to my profile and click 'homepage'.**

**And no, If you do not know what a Mary Sue is, I shall not tell you.**


End file.
